“Without God, it is impossible”: Founder of patisserie Nesuto launches cafes at Marina Bay Sands and ION Orchard amid a competitive F&B scene

Pastry chef Alicia Wong, founder of Japanese-styled patisserie Nesuto and a guest judge on Masterchef Singapore Season 4, stumbled on baking as a career “accidentally”.

Back in her polytechnic days, she opted to study a completely unrelated course: IT.

But she found herself in a rut during an IT internship. Hours in the office seemed to crawl by indeterminably as she stared at codes on a computer screen all day.

After graduating from school, a friend who was interested in signing up for culinary school asked her to join her.

“She wanted some company. I didn’t mind because it seemed fun, was heavily subsidised and I wanted to delay finding a job,” said Alicia, now 37. Ironically, it was she – not her friend – who passed the entrance interview at At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy.

Prior to culinary school, Alicia only had a passing interest in baking when she was young. With her parents often busy at work, the young Alicia entertained herself by making homemade Play-doh using flour, and baking bread and cookies when she was in primary school.

Training at At-Sunrice was tough. Alicia reveals she made “so many mistakes”, including failing one of the most basic recipes – crème anglaise (custard sauce).

Alicia (bottom right) with her coursemates at culinary school At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy.

With the course being heavily subsidised, Alicia had to fulfil a one-year bond to work in the food and beverage industry after graduation. But even before she graduated, she managed to secure a part-time position at Capella Hotel.

From studying IT to being chef de partie at Capella 

Midway into what turned out to be a six-year stint at Capella, Alicia finally began to enjoy the process of baking. She realised that it was something she was passionate about.  

She eventually rose to the position of chef de partie (station chef), assisting the head pastry chef.

Alicia with her teammates at Capella Singapore.

“I was very comfortable being an assistant to someone else. I knew I was not good enough to open my own shop and I also had no desire to do so,” said Alicia.

However, her then boyfriend Daniel and another friend persuaded her to take the leap and to join them to set up a small patisserie in Tanjong Pagar in 2017.

Nesuto at Tras Street.

They called it Nesuto, which means “nest” in Japanese. The patisserie serves up delectable cakes and entremets (French layered cakes) featuring unusual combinations.

One of the star desserts created by Alicia is the heart-shaped Queen Isaphan, which boast flavours of lychee, raspberry and rose. The entremets, named after the fragrant damask isaphan rose, houses a surprise in the middle.

Nesuto’s cakes.

While Alicia experienced much joy in creating new desserts – with each going through several months of research and development before it hits the shelves – the learning curve of starting a new business was steep.

Alicia working on her first photoshoot of her cakes at Nesuto’s Tras Street shop.

In the Tras Street vicinity, Nesuto was the newest and smallest kid on the block. Other patisseries in the neighbourhood – Chef Yamashita and Flor Patisserie (now no longer in business) – had already established their own following.

Slipping into depression a year after her shop’s opening 

Afraid of disappointing her business partners, staff and customers if her business failed to succeed, Alicia buckled under intense work pressure and slipped into depression.

She found herself easily agitated and unable to control her emotions. Once, she did a food hosting and a reviewer commented that the item was “too sweet” for his liking. That remark was enough for Alicia to break down in tears. Often, she found herself crying for no rhyme or reason.

When she had reached the end of herself, she remembered her newly rediscovered faith.

Though she was brought up in a Christian household, Alicia never knew what having a relationship with God looked like.

A year before she opened Nesuto, her boyfriend Daniel was curious about church and so both of them began attending New Creation Church. The sermons never failed to speak directly to her heart and encourage her.  

In later months, a depressed Alicia would find herself listening to sermons and worship songs on her long MRT commute to work at 7am every morning.

“Sometimes, I am so distracted that I don’t pay attention to the lyrics of the songs, but somehow my spirit is still gradually lifted after tuning in. I turn my focus to God instead of worrying about what I cannot do or control,” Alicia told Salt&Light.

As she listened to the sermons in church, her spiritual eyes were opened to the revelation that God loved her so much that He would die on the Cross for her.

It was then that she began noticing a difference between the tears she shed on Sunday compared to those that streamed down her face on weekdays.

“When I work on weekdays and cry out of desperation, my tears bring me more heaviness and tiredness. But when I cry in church on Sunday, it was a sign of me offloading my burdens to God and I felt much lighter after that,” said Alicia, who gradually walked out of her depressed state after six months.

Alicia with her church friends at New Creation’s church camp.

Manpower challenges 

But the situation at work did not get much better the following year. Three out of four of her kitchen staff were poached by a new competitor and all of them left within a month.

“I asked God why it happened but I didn’t have much time to rant to Him as I had to be more involved in running the shop. I couldn’t see His hand in this until much later,” said Alicia.

Two weeks later, a resume came in and Alicia found that that worker had skills that were more suited to what her business required than those ex-staff members who had left.

“So I learnt that sometimes, when God closes doors in the form of staff departures, it may not be a bad thing. It could be I am overly dependent on certain staff members or He wants to bring someone better in,” she said.

Many times, she noticed a pattern of her staff members resigning whenever she was overseas for weeks at a time.

“Maybe it’s God way of helping me relinquish control. I know that if I was in Singapore, I would take things into my own hands and go all out to persuade them to remain,” Alicia admitted to Salt&Light.

Provision amid the pandemic 

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Nesuto’s daily takings dropped to just S$200 to S$300 a day, and Alicia worried if she would even have enough to pay the rent.

She prayed hard and witnessed God’s provision and favour coming to her in the most unusual ways.

A food writer happened to publish a feature on hojicha cakes and included Nesuto’s in its listing. The result was their hojicha cakes flying off the shelves at a time during the pandemic, when food delivery orders surged as people were stuck indoors.

At that time, a producer from CNA’s Remarkable Living YouTube series also happened to ask an intern for recommendations on a pastry chef to feature. The intern, who had only tried Nesuto’s cakes once or twice before, suggested the patisserie as it had made an impression on her. When the CNA’s video clip aired, more people became aware of Nesuto and business soared.

These developments saw their business through the pandemic. When the COVID restrictions lifted, Alicia and her business partners knew it was time to expand their business by setting up a central kitchen.

“I knew nothing about designing and creating a central kitchen. But we also had no budget to hire a consultant so I just did my own research and took the plunge,” said Alicia.

In 2022, Nesuto had done well enough to open up shop at the prime location of Jewel Changi Airport. This would expose the brand not only locals but international travellers as well.

Alicia at Nesuto’s Jewel Changi outlet.

Through it all, Alicia is keenly aware that much of the growth of the business had little to do with her talents or ability.

“To succeed in F&B, it takes much more than talent. You can have very good food but the business may not survive. I am very aware of all my weaknesses that disqualify me. I am just a pastry chef with no skills in running a business, and there are much better cakes out there compared to mine,” said Alicia.

“But God qualifies and calls the disqualified. In my weaknesses, He guides and provides, and so His strength can be seen even in my areas of lack,” she added.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of their new store opening, Alicia’s grandfather fell ill and was admitted to hospital.

Alicia and family members celebrating their grandfather’s birthday.

As she cared for him, she was reminded to slow down and enjoy precious moments with her grandfather, who was also a Christian. Then, she only had one prayer request to God for him: To pass on painlessly.

She knew her prayer was answered when her grandfather’s heart just stopped suddenly one day while he was eating his breakfast of half boiled eggs and toast at home.

The role of prayer in her business 

Having experienced the power of prayer, she began praying more earnestly for her staff members and whenever she encountered difficult situations in her business.

A pastry staffer who decorates the cakes at their Tras Street shophouse used to sense supernatural activity frequently in the kitchen, such as shadows darting around.

Once, he placed a knife on the countertop, far away from the edge. Yet he later heard the knife dropping onto the floor, though nobody else was there.

Troubled by this, he confided in a colleague. When Alicia got to know of it, she volunteered to pray for him. She also prayed over the kitchen. From then on, he no longer had such encounters.

Then there was another situation at work where her employees found it hard to work with a particular kitchen staffer who exhibited toxic behaviour.

Alicia sat down with him and conveyed to him that his behaviour was unacceptable, but there was not much improvement thereafter.

“I decided to go into the shop earlier for a few times that week and pray over the place; I especially prayed over his locker,” said Alicia.

“Subsequently, everyone noticed that he became more controlled and less defiant. People complained less about him. It was our busy period then and he even stepped up to do more. It could only be due to God,” she added.

Alicia knows her desserts, but she also knows the power of prayer.

Prayer also became her go-to tool to support employees who were going through tough times in their lives.

When a staff member had depression and took unpaid leave to recover, Alicia texted her prayers and sent her sermons to listen to. When her chef’s wife had a miscarriage, she also kept him in prayer and allowed him to take his leave in advance.

“He is not a believer but I am not shy to send prayers over. They usually appreciate it,” said Alicia.

Another service staffer went through the ordeal of losing both parents within a span of a few months. When she broke down at home and called Alicia in distress, she rushed down to her home and prayed for her in person.

Once, her logistics driver experienced a miracle after she prayed for him. He had had an accident while at work and landed up in the Intensive Care Unit in the hospital. Both of his legs could not move at all. Alicia visited him a few times and prayed for his legs.

“On the fourth day, he could suddenly move his toes. Today, he is fine. He has joined me at church thrice since then,” she told Salt&Light.

Out of the five employees who accepted her invitation to follow her to church, one has since come to faith.

Though Alicia has no qualms about befriending and praying for her staff, there are times when she seeks God’s wisdom to help her with keeping them in line.

“When I have to sit them down for correction, He guides me on what, when and how to say things,” said Alicia.

At times, she simply sits down and listens to them with empathy. At other times, she will show them that she is upset and firmly correct them.

Servant leadership 

Her form of “servant leadership” is having the grace and patience to journey with some members of her staff team.

“I get concerned feedback from others that I am spending too much time on the wrong people; that I should just fire underperformers and hire more capable ones.  But I always feel that even if their skillsets don’t progress, they should have their character grown during the time that they are with the company,” said Alicia.

There was once she hired a friend from church who had much experience being a leader in the F&B industry. However, the way he practiced leadership was starkly different from her vision of leadership.

“It was very frustrating because we were spending a lot of money to hire him yet he seemed to be creating a lot of problems for the company,” said Alicia.

She prayed and simply heard God telling her to “love on” him. So, she tried hard to hold her tongue and get out of his way.

“I always ask God to help ensure that if they are not the right people for the company, let them leave by themselves,” said Alicia.

In the end, that leader decided to resign of his own accord.

As Alicia made the transition from being a chef to playing a bigger role in people and business development, God’s favour on the business was apparent.

Over the last few years, Nesuto began gaining opportunities from companies in the luxury segment.

French luxury fashion house Chanel approached Nesuto to set up a dessert counter at its watch and jewellery boutique for one month during the Christmas season.

French beauty house Guerlain also engaged Nesuto to run a pop-up café in its boutique.

Nesuto’s pop-up cafe within the Guerlain boutique.

“It was the first ever pop-up that Guerlain did. It turned out that their marketing person just happened to walk past our shop. She tried our cakes and recommended us. For Chanel, someone had gifted their events lady our cakes and that’s how she knew about us,” said Alicia.

The divine connections with seemingly random people continued.

In 2023, Masterchef Singapore came knocking on her door, asking if she was interested in being interviewed for a spot as its Season 4 guest judge.

In the same way she was featured by CNA years ago, it was an intern – who had tried her cakes – who proposed the bringing Alicia on board when her producer was in search of a pastry chef to be a guest judge on the popular TV show.

Ace pastry chef Alicia, a guest judge on Masterchef Singapore Season 4, alongside other renowned chefs.

“These were clearly doors that God has opened for us. We hardly do any marketing and do not have much followers on social media because we are not active on it,” said Alicia.

Last year, Alicia’s business partner Daniel, whom she married last year, urged her to launch a savoury concept – Café Nesuto – in order to expand their offerings beyond desserts.

Alicia was reluctant to do so as she felt her expertise lies in creating sweets.

But opportunities presented themselves in quick succession. The leasing staff members from both Marina Bay Sands and ION Orchard separately approached Daniel to ask if Nesuto would like to send in a proposal to lease a unit in their malls.

“We thought we would just submit the proposals and see what happens from there. Approval was not guaranteed as the mall has to also believe in your brand concept and growth potential,” said Alicia.

She prayed hard for God to close these doors if Nesuto was not meant to expand further.

Within a week of each other, both malls came back to them and give the green light.

“The chances of this happening in the natural – two prominent malls giving their approvals back-to-back – are slim. We saw it as a call from God and went ahead with it,” said Alicia.

Red Sea moments 

These decisions were made though they did not have much financial surplus and operated on “daily manna from God”.

Just like the COVID season which left them high and dry some days, Alicia and her business partners now found themselves facing another nerve-racking period.

“These were Red Sea moments as the pressure was on and we were cutting it close with no solution in sight. We were praying for funds to come in in order to pay part of the rental deposit for the ION space,” said Alicia, who had a number in mind of the amount that they would need.

That exact amount came in from a friend who had heard from God one morning to give Nesuto that sum of money.

“Without God, it is impossible. The investment into this is so high that we can’t afford to fail,” said Alicia. 

Alicia at Nesuto’s ION Orchard space during its renovation.

As their sunk costs for the two new projects were already significant, Alicia felt that they should not carve out a separate budget to engage an agency to run a Public Relations (PR) campaign for the launch of their two outlets, which went against conventional wisdom.

“It felt like a bad decision because having a PR campaign may not cost much in the larger scheme of things and we should be leveraging on the Christmas season to publicise our launches,” Alicia explained.

“But I prayed and felt the peace not to engage any PR firm. If God has called us to open Café Nesuto, then He is the one who has to make it work,” she declared.

Café Nesuto opened at Ion Orchard three months ago, and its other café in Marina Bay Sands started operations about a month ago.

Cafe Nesuto at ION Orchard

Cafe Nesuto at Marina Bay Sands.

The café launches were fraught with challenges but God’s providence continued to see them through.

For instance, they could not find suitable manpower for their Marina Bay Sands’ café, until a week before its launch. That was when the resumes started coming in and it was only then that they could start interviewing potential candidates.

“The ones we hired turned out to be gems who were willing to stay on later if needed and who were really invested in the company’s growth,” said Alicia, who manages a team of 50 employees today. 

A savoury dish from Cafe Nesuto’s ION Orchard branch.

Despite their recent expansion, she is not hung up about helming Nesuto for the longer term.

“If God calls me to do something else, I will go. Nesuto is not Alicia and Alicia is not Nesuto. My identity is a child of God,” she said to Salt&Light.

Looking back at her life’s journey, she can only marvel at the unlikely path God has taken her.

“Don’t limit what God can do in your lives. Often, our worldviews and mindsets are tied to what we have experienced or influenced by what others say. Instead, we should benchmark our beliefs to His promises in the Bible, which are many and true.”

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